Phone doesn't ring

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Phone doesn't ring

Postby Ivanski » 03/04/2020

Hi Everyone,

I have the same issue where I don't receive calls from other FPL users. I can receive calls from real landlines or cell phones. I have the advantage of having 2 ISPs and 2 different FPL accounts/phones. When I have either Linksys PAP2 adapter on the Bell's Fibe Internet, the corresponding phone doesn't ring. However, if I connect the adapter to the Rogers network, the phone rings with no issue and I'm able to receive calls from everyone.

The setup with Bell has been working without any issues for several years until sometime in January. I tried resetting everything, and incoming calls (from other FPL users) simply don't work. Outgoing calls work fine.

What is required for incoming calls to work? My routers don't have SIP ALG enabled, and I also tried voip4.freephoneline.ca:6060. The FPL website shows that the adapter is connected and registered.

It seems to me that something is messed up between the Fongo network and Bell. Perhaps a port is being blocked by Bell?

Any suggestions/help is greatly appreciated.
Ivanski
One Hit Wonder
 
Posts: 1
Joined: 03/04/2020
SIP Device Name: Linksys PAP2
Firmware Version: 5.1.6(LS)
ISP Name: Bell Fibe
Computer OS: Windows 10
Router: Netgear ProSafe FVS336GV2

Re: Phone doesn't ring

Postby Liptonbrisk » 03/04/2020

You originally posted in the Fongo Mobile forum and piggy-backed on someone else's Fongo Mobile thread, so I split the topic and moved your post to the Freephoneline forum since, based on what you've written, your issue involves Freephoneline.



Ivanski wrote: I have the advantage of having 2 ISPs and 2 different FPL accounts/phones. When I have either Linksys PAP2 adapter on the Bell's Fibe Internet, the corresponding phone doesn't ring


Do you also have two separate ATAs? Or are you using Line 1 for Bell and Line 2 for Rogers (or vice versa)?

My routers don't have SIP ALG enabled


Bell doesn't have a way of disabling it in their hubs, as far as I know. So you have to bypass the hub's router settings by using bridge mode and performing PPPoE login in your router instead.
If you're using your own router, the Bell hub should be run in bridge mode as well (and so should any Rogers modem/router combo device or Hitron gateway).


Any suggestions/help is greatly appreciated.


Follow these steps, step by step, carefully, in the order they are listed:

1. Before beginning the steps below make sure whatever modem/router combo your ISP gave you is in bridge mode if you are using your own router. Call/contact your ISP if you have to For Bell Hubs, visit http://forums.redflagdeals.com/please-s ... r-1993629/. For Rogers, visit https://www.rogers.com/customer/support ... ridgemodem.

2. Your latest Netgear FVS336Gv2 firmware can be located at https://www.netgear.com/support/product ... x#download
I will not be held responsible for failed firmware updates.

3. Perform PPPoE in your Netgear FVS366G.
a) Login to your Netgear router
b) Navigate to Network --> WAN (whichever number you choose for the Bell Hub)-->ISP Login--> Select "Yes"
(you'll need your username and Bell password credentials)

c) For ISP connection type, select "Other (PPPoE)".
d) For account name, I don't have your router to test, but it shouldn't be required (in theory).
e) You shouldn't have to specify anything for domain name.
f) Set Idle Timeout to "Keep connected."
g) click "apply".

After doing this, you'll be bypassing potential buggy router features in the Bell Hub.

4. Disable SIP ALG in your Netgear router:
a) visit https://support.8x8.com/equipment-devic ... le_SIP-ALG for instructions
b) click "apply"

5. Unless you have no other choice, disable port forwarding to your ATA in your router's settings (and do not use DMZ for your ATA). Port forwarding is a security risk.

6. Ensure your ATA is connected to your Netgear router

Bell Hub-->Netgear router-->ATA

7. Login to your PAP2

8. In your PAP2, Navigate to Line 1 (or whatever you're using for FPL)-->SIP settings, and change SIP Port to a random number between 30000 and 60000. Do this for security reasons. Also, this step may help to temporarily address a corrupted NAT association that's developed between a router and ATA.

If you're using both Lines, change both SIP Ports for each line to a random number between 30000 and 60000. But do not use the exact same SIP Port number for both Lines.

9. In your PAP2T, Navigate to the SIP tab-->NAT Support Parameters, and make sure that the following settings are enabled:

a)Handle VIA received-->yes
b)Handle VIA rport-->yes
c)Substitute VIA Addr-->yes

This helps to ensure RTP (the streaming audio packets sent by FPL's server) packets are sent to your public WAN IP address as opposed to your LAN IP address (nowhere/outer space).

d) NAT Keep Alive Intvl should be 20

10. Navigate to Line (do this for both lines)-->NAT settings
a) NAT Mapping enabled --> yes
b) NAT Keep alive enabled --> yes

11. Navigate to Voice-->SIP-->SIP Timer Values (sec)
a. Reg Retry Intvl should be 120 seconds
https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... redentials
This step is not related to your problem, but old guides didn't include this setting.

12. You stated you tried voip4.freephoneline.ca:6060
Let's keep using it with the Bell configuration for testing purposes. It doesn't matter that you're not having problems with Rogers; you can use voip4.freephoneline.ca:6060, regardless, with Bell.
The purpose of this proxy server is to circumvent buggy SIP ALG features in routers.

You may not be able to do this step (I am not familiar with your router). If you can't do step 13, just skip it for now.

13. Thanks to Mango, many of us now understand that in order for ATAs to remain registered and working properly
with a VoIP SIP provider like Freephoneline, in particular after power failures, the following conditions must be met:

UDP Unreplied Timeout (in your router) < NAT Keep-alive Interval < UDP Assured Timeout (in your router) < SIP Registration Failure Retry Wait Time (Reg Retry Intvl)

“<“ means less than.

When a modem leases a new IP address, a problem can arise where prior associations using the old IP address are maintained in the router. When the ATA attempts to communicate using the old IP address, the response is unreplied, and then if the UDP Unreplied timeout is greater than the Keep Alive Interval (and UDP Unreplied timeout is often set to 30 by default in consumer routers) a problem arises where the corrupted connection persists. If UDP Unreplied timeout is, for example, 17, and the NAT Keep Alive Interval is 20, then the corrupted connection will timeout or close. A new connection will be created, and everything will work fine.

Another problem can occur when the Keep-Alive interval is greater than UDP Assured Timeout (often 180 by default in consumer routers): the NAT hole will close due to the ATA not communicating frequently enough with the SIP server. In turn, incoming calls may, intermittently, not reach the ATA. Again, NAT Keep-alive Interval is supposed to be 20 with FPL.

Getting access to both UDP Unreplied Timeout and UDP Assured Timeout settings in consumer routers may be
difficult, if not impossible. Asuswrt-Merlin, third party firmware for Asus routers, does offer easy access to these two
settings, which are found under General–>Tools-->Other settings. In part, for this reason, I tend to use Asus routers
that work with Asuswrt-Merlin. However, my understanding is that third party Tomato firmware has these two settings
as well. So if your router supports Tomato firmware, that may be another option. I will not be held responsible for failed firmware updates.
Apparently, Mikrotik routers also allow users to change both Assured and Unreplied UDP timeout settings: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/recomme ... 2115672/2/.
The keep alive interval for FPL is 20. The SIP Registration Failure Retry Wait Time is 120. I use 17 for UDP
Unreplied Timeout and 117 for UDP Assured Timeout.



14. After changing and savings settings, reboot your devices. Proper device reboot order is always modem (wait for it to be fully up and running)-->router (wait for Wi-Fi SSIDs to populate and broadcast first--or wait for it to be fully up and running as well)-->ATA in that order

15. Then test another call.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Liptonbrisk
Technical Support
 
Posts: 2764
Joined: 04/26/2010
SIP Device Name: Obihai 202/2182, Groundwire
Firmware Version: various
ISP Name: FTTH
Computer OS: Windows 64 bit
Router: Asuswrt-Merlin & others


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